Bodies of Two Men Are Found in Brush Fire

Firefighters respond to a fire in Howard Beach where two bodies were discovered.

By Tamer El-Ghobashy and Alison Fox

The bodies of two men were discovered in a remote area of Queens following a brush fire on Wednesday that authorities believe was deliberately set to dispose of the corpses.

Police said it was unclear if the men had been bound or how they were killed.

The bodies were badly burned and autopsies were being conducted to determine the identities of the men and how they died.

“It’s more than likely that they were killed at some other location and brought there,” New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at an unrelated news conference on Wednesday.

The men were found in an “undeveloped grassy area” near the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach, police said.

The location has a long history in New York City as a mafia dumping grounds and more recently, was the site where a missing graduate student was found murdered in 2006.

“Bodies have been dumped there, in the general vicinity, over an extended period of time,” Mr. Kelly said, adding that it has become far less frequent in recent years.

The discovery of the bodies came after a fire was reported at about 4:15 a.m. and took about two hours to be brought under control by firefighters.

According to Mr. Kelly, the bodies may have been covered or wrapped in plastic bags which melted into the skin of the victims. Mr. Kelly said investigators were “not certain at this time that they were bound” and that they were seeking video surveillance to help figure out how the bodies arrived there.

In 2006, Imette St. Guillen, a 24-year-old student, was found in the marshy area after she had gone missing following a night of drinking at a SoHo bar. A bouncer at the bar was later convicted of her murder.

Since then, residents in the area said there has been little activity of note in the undeveloped area that is marked by tall prairie grass and where youth ride four-wheeled motorcycles.